Grant Funding - Tackling Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service for Professionals

Description

The Home Office is seeking bids for grant funding relating to Tackling Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service for Professionals. A total funding pot of up to £400k is available for the provision of a Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB) Support Service for Professionals. Funding will pilot a service to deliver England-wide targeted support to safeguarding professionals on tackling HSB (working with children and young people who are both displaying these behaviours and affected by it), as well as collate evidence & intelligence of the challenges local partners are facing, in order to inform future policy decisions. The pilot will be targeted at designated safeguarding leads within early years provision, primary and secondary schools, alternative provision and colleges, but also open to wider safeguarding professionals (including police, social workers and health practitioners). Support will be offered regarding specific incidents of HSB & also for strategic/systemic questions, such as policy considerations. The support provision will provide initial support & signpost to existing resources & advice. Duration The period of the grant funding will be from January 2022 to March 2022, with potential to extend into next financial year if funding agreed. The provider(s) must have existing capacity to deliver the service by no later than January 2022 to ensure the maximum duration for the service to run to inform the evidence base on harmful sexual behaviour. To ensure value for money a charge per contact payment plan will be in place with a clear stipulation within the funding agreement regarding the minimum staffing requirement over the lifetime of the support service. Objectives: This support service will help to build the evidence base & improve practice responses across those areas seeking support. The support service will help to deliver the following objectives: - Harmful sexual behaviour will be better identified by professionals - Young people displaying harmful sexual behaviour will receive earlier support & help to respond to underlying issues/trauma, which will be trauma-informed & joined up across safeguarding agencies - Those impacted by / experiencing harmful sexual behaviour will receive earlier support which will also be trauma informed & joined up across safeguarding agencies. - Over the longer term, fewer incidents of harmful sexual behaviour in areas schools and LA areas, with fewer young people affected by it - Professionals gain confidence in dealing with such incidents of HSB - Implementation of whole-system, trauma informed responses to HSB to ensure a change in the culture of how harmful sexual behaviour is perceived & responded to, - Learning gathered on the sorts of issues and incidents local professionals particularly struggle with when responding to HSB, to inform future policy development - Learning gathered on what a 'best practice' whole-system response to HSB looks like, which can be collated and shared nationally.